January 8th, 2008 at 12:07 pm by Bob Weber (football)
Sad news today, the great Joe Gibbs has resigned as the head coach of the Washington Redskins.
While I am not, never have been, and probably never will be a Redskins fan, I have the utmost respect for Gibbs. I’m sorry to see him go, but hope he enjoys his second retirement.
Popularity: 4%
December 14th, 2007 at 4:52 pm by Bob Weber (Laugh Stupid, football)
If you are a Denver Broncos fan, as I am, you have had a dismal season. The Broncos have been up and down, but mostly down. A fiasco of special teams failures, inadequate defense and tepid offense. All year long the citizens of Colorado have searched for an explaination. Some blame bad kicking, some blame youth on defense, some even go so far to blame the coaching.
Last night, while watching the Houston Texans school the Broncos at their own game, I had an epiphany. I know why the Broncos have struggled this year. The problem is Jay Cutler can’t see out.
If you examine the picture on the right closely, you will see how the helmet comes down over Cutler’s eyes. It’s unclear if this is an equipment issue, or just a mishapen head on Cutler’s broad shoulders, but the problem is obvious.
The poor fitting helmet is restricting Cutler’s vision and causing sacks, missed throws, missed opportunities and interceptions. Hopefully the Denver Broncos organization will read this, and either get Jay into surgery to fix his head, or build a special helmet that he can see out of.
Popularity: 7%
October 28th, 2007 at 5:38 pm by Bob Weber (football, Personal)
So, the Rockies haven’t fared well against the Boston Red Sox. As of this writing, the Rocks are down three games in the series. Now, I normally don’t hate the BoSox, but when they are playing the home team…
Worst part is, not only is Boston beating up on my baseball team, the New England Patriots are busy annihilating teams on what looks like a steamroll to the Super Bowl. Appearantly Bill Belicheck has decided the way to win back the hearts and minds of America, after his cheating ways, is to embarrass his opponent in every game he coaches. Today’s 52-7 whipping of the Washington Redskins reminded me of the Nebraska (another team I hated) glory days when Tom Osborne would run the score up on every poor team he played.
Worst case scenario, the Red Sox will sweep the Rockies to be the 2007 World Series winners and the New England Patriots will beat the Colts next week, go undefeated and win the Super Bowl again.
The only thing that could make me hate Boston more is if the Bruins knock the Avs out of the Stanely Cup race.
Of course, best case would be the Rocks winning four straight to be Series Champs, Colts beat the Pats next week, and the Broncos rally to win the Super Bowl. Let’s hope for that.
Popularity: 8%
October 20th, 2007 at 1:41 pm by Bob Weber (Laugh Stupid, football)
September 30th, 2007 at 5:25 pm by Bob Weber (football)
So it’s official. The San Diego Chargers’ will have fewer wins in 2007 than they did last year. Their 2006 record was 14-2, with their 30-16 loss today to the Kansas City Chiefs they drop to 1-3 on the season.
The number one reason for this change, the replacement of Marty Schottenheimer with Norv Turner. For those of you not famiilar with the NFL, Marty has historically been a very winning coach, but not able to win (or even get to) a Super Bowl. He is notorious for playing Marty Ball, a conservative offense that attempts to rely amlost completely on the running game. Although Marty has been chastized throughout his career his style, the team in San Diego with LaDainian Tomlinson at running back, fit his schema extremely well.
At the end of last season, after leading his team to a 13-2 season and losing a playoff game to the consistently difficult New England Patriots. For his efforts, Schottenheimer got the boot. The ownership in San Diego replaced him with the consistently poor Norv Turner, pulling off a maneuver similar to what Tampa Bay accomplished in 2002 by firing Tony Dungy and hiring Jon Gruden (another team that has since become a parody of itself).
Now, four games into the 2007 season, it is amazingly clear that this change was not a good move by the Chargers. San Diego has fallen from being a powerhouse, to the joke of the AFC West. The NFL Playoffs are so difficult, and the AFC is so competitive right now with teams like the Steelers, Colts and Patriots, firing someone for a playoff loss is ridiculous and greedy. I’ve never been a big fan of Marty, but the San Diego Chargers are missing their best chance to have a good quality season, increase attendance and fan loyalty and generally build on the excitement of last year.
In a modern NFL that is all about the money, sometimes I wonder who makes decisions like this. Is the ownership so dedicated to ‘winning’ that they will take a gamble like this? Is a Super Bowl win so lucrative that it’s worth risking a possible losing season? What is their motivation? It’s really difficult to win the Super Bowl if you can’t even come up with a win in the regular season…
Popularity: 7%
September 9th, 2007 at 10:00 am by Bob Weber (football)
Today is the first Sunday of the 2007 NFL Football season.
Anyone who reads this blog consistently will know that I currently have two favorite teams. The Denver Broncos (always have to root for the home team) and the Indianapolis Colts (got to love Dungy and Manning).
If Denver can beat Buffalo today I will have have had a perfect opening weekend.
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August 28th, 2007 at 5:13 pm by Bob Weber (football, Personal)
I was fortunate enough to attend my first NFL game when my friend Sarah invited me to Saturday night’s pre-season Denver Broncos game. While I am an avid professional football fan, this was the first time I had ever been to a pro game live. While I had a great time, and really appreciate Sarah taking me, I don’t think I will go to another.
The amazing thing about an NFL game is that nobody really seems to watch the game. when I watch a game at home I am bombarded by three hours of play-by-play action by at LEAST two announcers. They give background information, stats analysis, and replays for BOTH teams. Invesco Field had two big screens that showed replays and information on the Broncos, but nearly nothing on their opponents, the Cleveland Browns. From my upper deck seat I couldn’t make out the name of any Browns players. I really felt like I only got to watch half a football game.
Again, this is not a critque of the evening. I had a great time, but I care too much about the game to watch another one live. I would much rather watch Jay Cutler fumble snaps and throw incompletions in the comfort of my own home, where I can switch over to Peyton Manning when I get frustrated…
Popularity: 9%
January 21st, 2007 at 10:00 pm by Bob Weber (football, Personal)
In what may be the most exciting AFC championship game in history the Indianapolis Colts overcame an 18 point first half deficit to defeat the vaunted New England Patriots and secured a place in the Super Bowl.
Both teams fought valiantly, but ultimately the Colts desire to win prevailed.
The poetic moment of the game is when Tom Brady, often refered to as the ‘Greatest Quarterback Ever’ threw a pass that was intercepted by Colts’ Marlin Jackson - effectively ending the game.
My congratulations go out to Tony Dungy and the whole Colts organization! I, for one, am looking forward to a great Super Bowl game against Brian Urlacher and the Chicago Bears.
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January 19th, 2007 at 3:13 pm by Bob Weber (football, Personal)
We are just two days away from Sunday’s show down between two of the best football teams of the modern era. The New England Patriots with their boring, mediocre, ‘we don’t need good players when we can just bore the other team to death’ style vs. the dynamic, exciting, record setting, passionate Indianapolis Colts.
For me, Sunday’s game symbolizes the good and the bad in the NFL today.
Coach Belichick, while brilliant, has a coaching style tailor-made for the modern NFL. The New England Patriots are a cold, rutheless, crushing football machine that is designed to win games the same way every time. Every position and every person is replacable. Tom Brady get’s billing as one of the greatest quarterbacks in history, when in reality he is just another cog that keeps the Belichick machine running.
The Indianapolis Colts are diametrically opposed to the New England Patriots. If the Patriots are a machine, the Colts are a living breathing entity. They play with passion, heart and honor. Peyton Manning is the quintessential quarterback, a true field general and leader of men in the tradition of men like Unitas and Elway. The coach, Tony Dungy, is a soft spoken defensive genius - the first coach in history to beat all 32 NFL teams. The leadership of these two men brings out the best in players like Marvin Harrison, Dallas Clark, Reggie Wayne, Bob Sanders, Dwight Freeney, Joseph Addai and many others - all heros in their own right.
This Sunday we will once again see this clash of old vs. new, Heros vs. Machine, Passion vs. Calculation. At the end of the day I only know one thing. Win or Lose, at the press conference Manning and Dungy will have gracious things to say about their opponent, Bellichick will be rude and Brady will walk out in his $10,000 suit and flash his million dollar smile.
My only hope is that, contrary to Lisa’s wishes, the Patriots don’t win again.
Popularity: 9%
November 27th, 2006 at 8:59 pm by Bob Weber (football)
This is a big decision for Shanahan. I’ve always liked Plummer, even back to his days at ASU. It is unfortunate the Broncos haven’t been able to return to the Super Bowl with Plummer at the helm. It’s not clear if the problem is with Plummer or if it’s Jake’s supporting cast, but the overall ineffectiveness of the Broncos offense this year is undeniable.
Part of me hopes that Cutler can step in and take the Broncos to the playoffs. Another part of me hopes that Plummer will be vindicated and Cutler will fall flat on his face. No matter what, you can be sure Denver fans will be merciless to the new guy. First bad game he has they will be burning a Cutler effigy in the Mile High parking lot…
Popularity: 8%
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